Adam LaRoche is congratulated by Bryce Harper following his sixth-inning homer.

Game in a nutshell: Stop us if you've heard this one before: Jordan Zimmermann pitches brilliantly but gets precious little run support and finds himself facing a possible no-decision. Thankfully for the hard-luck right-hander, the Nationals strung together enough hits late to give him the lead. And Zimmermann didn't need much, because he didn't allow any runs over six strong innings. Adam LaRoche provided the big blast: a two-run homer in the sixth to snap a scoreless tie. Steve Lombardozzi then added the insurance knock: a two-run double in the seventh. That gave some cushion to the Nats bullpen, which unlike last night managed to close this one out in regulation (though Tyler Clippard did give up solo homers to both David Wright and Jason Bay in the ninth). Thus, the Nationals handed the Mets their sixth straight loss and dropped them eight games back in the NL East.

Hitting highlight: No, he's not raking at the plate the way he did during the season's first six weeks when he looked like a candidate forRead more »

Great game Harper and Lombo keying what little offense there was again ….. and Natslady better start worrying about Clippard not Gorzelanny … his xFIP is likely through the roof after these two appearances.

True that, Joe. He's also been "interesting." That said, the good guys won, the game and the series. Looking forward to tomorrow's match-up, which I'll see in person (my boss is very "understanding"). :-)A side hitting note: after Flores singled and was standing on first, it looked to me as though Werth caught his eye and gave him an "atta boy, Flo" from the dugout.

Let's hope that Clip is just going through a rough time, it will be over soon and it will be the only one. Everyone talks about Bryce being old school? Look at Jordan – crew cut, no new age necklaces, high socks, throws strikes, no drama. That's old school.

Whew, have to say I was just a bit concerned. I did go to the comments on the in-game post and saw that Mick was using my advice so I had to put something there. We just keep winning series and that is the key. 2-4 against the Marlins, at least 2 against the Mets. That puts us at 4 -2 in the 1st 6 games after the break. We really can do this!!! How long will Davey stick with Clippard? Right now, he really doesn't have options unless you consider Mattheus.Go Nats!!

Time to start Davey's idea of an A & B bullpen, Drew B. amd Clip A. Matteus or GStam at set-up, opposite Lefty, depending on which one isn't sent down.Can't keep trotting Clip out there, even with the breaks he's had before, during, and after the ASG. He's been in 41 games this year already.Both of Clip's HR pitches had location problems.

Clip has had bad streaks before. Its like the other teams figure out his pattern and start sitting on a particular pitch. In the past he has been able to work himself out of the bad streaks and go lights out again. We really need Storen back so Clip doesn't get overworked.

Home from the game. So great to be back at Nats Park. A crisp well played game with timely hitting from ALR and Lombo and a wild ride from Clipp. I just watched Davey's postgame comments. Boy is he having a good time. He's absolutely right about Znn, that guy is a horse. Just so sharp in this game. He's not going to be a secret weapon for much longer. TyMo had a few nice plays, but also should have made two catches that he didn't make. And Harper had a very long run for that catch early in the game. Hard to believe our outfield has two guys who less than two years ago had never played the position.Finally, it was a pleasure to not have most of the between innings entertainment tonight because Clint was filling in as the P.A. announcer. And he did quite good job, I must say. Credit where credit is due. I've concluded I really don't dislike Clint. I just dislike what they make him do most nights.

Agreed.Section 3, My PFB Hitterish Sofa said… I know the Mets are 8 back, but they don't look like a team that's beaten yet, to me. I'm starting to think there's more fight in that dog than I, for one, figured. July 18, 2012 10:57 PM

On Clippard's giving up the HR to Wright – I looked at the recording and it was straight down the middle, which was exactly where Flores wanted it because his glove did not move an inch. Bottom line, this wasn't a control issue. My best guess is that he had a 3 run lead, and wanted to get ahead of Wright. He threw the pitch he wanted. The result just turned out to be less than optimum.Still, we won. If Clipp had melted down, I would worry, but it just does't happen with this ballclub's stars.